


Life And Limb

by SpokenOutcast



Category: Bayonetta (Video Games)
Genre: Alcohol, Angst, Arguing, Conflict, Conflict Resolution, F/F, Fluff, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-01
Updated: 2018-03-01
Packaged: 2019-03-25 11:23:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13833126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpokenOutcast/pseuds/SpokenOutcast
Summary: Jeanne had a way of saving Cereza's life with no regard for her own. Cereza had a way of not wanting people to risk their lives for her, especially if they were already dragged to Inferno doing that very thing before.





	Life And Limb

**Author's Note:**

> Requested through Tumblr. Feel free to send me more requests through [my tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/hellastevenuniverse) or reply to [this](https://thoughtful-text-posts.tumblr.com/post/171260914969/my-askbox-is-open-for-fanfic-requests) post which I did on my alt blog.

"Cereza!" Jeanne lunged forward and tackled her lover out of the way of an incoming boulder. This angel was particularly feisty and didn't want to go down without a fight, certainly not without trying to bruise the girls up. Cereza would have been able to dodge the large rock on her own but a few angels had her distracted, and she'd just finished off the last one when Jeanne yelled her name. They were surrounded by fire, where there should have been water in the overworld there was lava, where the sky should have been bright blue it was black. This didn't phase the women as they were used to seeing hellish things but perhaps it should have given the creature they were fighting. They mutually chose not to think much of the setting.

"Jeanne I love you, really I do, but you need to stop doing that" Cereza hissed. The giant hurled another rock their way and they dodged in opposite directions. More angels flew into the scene, these ones were far weaker than the giant and thus easier to deal with but that didn't make the situation any less irritating.

"Stop what?" She asked when they'd regained their stances, granted that didn't take long for the witches. They practically moved at the speed of light if not faster on a good day. Cereza chose to ignore the question. This could wait until they were home and weren't being bombarded by various monsters. She took initiative and turned into a panther so she could get up close and personal with the bastard that seemed to have a rock fettish. Jeanne followed by her side, but they split off as soon as the beast tried to bring his hammer down on them. They each took to running up one arm and managed to get up close and personal with its face. It didn't take long to defeat him after that.

When he fell into the lava the women jumped off and landed on the platform they'd been forced to fight on through the course of the battle. The angels that weren't dragged into the lava by the strange goliath tried to fly away but didn't get very far. Witches left stitches, after all. 

When all was said and done they'd headed back home, Jeanne tried asking Cereza what she'd meant a second time but the witch wasn't in the mood to talk. Jeanne chose not to push the subject until they'd both settled in at home.

~~~

Jeanne had finished taking her shower and Cereza was getting in for her turn. On ocassion they showered together and told themselves they were saving water that way. Better for the environment and all that. In reality they took much longer when they showered together than when they did so separately. On top of them being exhausted from killing angels all day they still hadn't talked about what happened earlier. Jeanne decided now was as good a time as any to discuss it. Cereza was in the shower while she was leaning against the doorframe.

"So what did you mean earlier?"

"You haven't figured it out yet?" That struck a nerve. Heat boiled in Jeanne's belly.

"What do you mean 'you haven't figured it out yet'? You haven't told me what I did wrong."

"Jeanne do we really have to do this now?" Cereza was clearly getting an edge to her voice, but then, so was Jeanne.

"Oh I'm sorry. Would you like me to wait six months for an answer? Do I need to file a ticket? Maybe call a support center?"

"My apologies, I'd just prefer not to answer a loaded question." Cereza turned the water off and pulled the curtain back. On a normal night one of them being naked would result in them both being naked. Unfortunately, this was not a normal night. The witch grabbed a towel from a nearby rack and wrapped it around herself.

"Loaded question?" 

"Yes. If I don't tell you what I meant earlier you'll be upset but if I do tell you what I meant then you'll be even moreso." They were face to face now. Jeanne was still leaning on the doorframe with her arms crossed and Cereza looked somewhat bored but that could have been the look of exhaustion. Honestly sometimes Jeanne swore boredom could exhaust her just as much as the events of the day had.

"Have you considered" she said carefully, "that not telling me will just make things worse in the long run?"

"Have you considered perhaps...forgetting the whole thing?" Jeanne rolled her eyes at this and walked into their bedroom. Cereza was stubborn and that made her absolutely intolerable from time to time. 

Cereza pinched the bridge of her nose and exhaled. She supposed Jeanne had a point but how could she tell her to stop caring so much? The woman had a way of saving her like nobody else ever had. She recalled having to go all the way to Inferno because Jeanne put her life at risk and one would think the woman would learn not to jump directly in the way of danger but apparently nothing had changed. Cereza loved her more than anybody else and the idea she could die because of her **again** was awful. The image grew darker when she realized she might not be able to go to Inferno and find her again like she did last time. 

"Jeanne?" Cereza said her name softly as she walked into the room. She'd taken a moment to figure out what she wanted to say without it sounding like she didn't want Jeanne to be herself. She knew the white haired woman had a hero streak to her but Jeanne had to realize she couldn't save everyone.

"Have you decided to talk about it all of a sudden?" She sat up in bed and leaned back on her arms, eyebrow raised somehow questioningly and accusingly. 

"I suppose I have, yes." She sat down on the foot of the bed and took a breath before beginning what could have turned into a monologue, "You know I care about you more than I care about anybody else...but you're always throwing yourself into danger because of me. You can't keep doing that. We both know you went to Inferno once and it was practically down to luck that I got to your soul in time back then, what if I can't do it again?"

"So...you want me to lay back and watch you get killed?"

"I wasn't the one that was dragged to Inferno." She moved closer to Jeanne before continuing, "My life isn't worth more than your's. You shouldn't choose to throw your life away for the sake of being my knight in shining armor, it's just not worth it." Jeanne got off the bed then. Did Cereza only see her protecting her as her trying to appear like some sort of knight? If that's what she thought of Jeanne caring about her then what was she holding back? "Jeanne? What are you--"

"I don't try to be your white knight or whatever the fuck you suggested I was. Your life isn't worth more than mine? You can say that all you want but to me it is. You're my world, Cereza. Of course I'd want to protect you. Wouldn't you want to save me?"

"Of course I would but would you really want to watch me die trying to save you?" Jeanne couldn't think clearly. She knew she was being unreasonable but she couldn't--no, didn't--want to see reason. She just wanted to get out, get away, do _something_. She walked out of their bedroom mumbling something about the bar. Cereza was dumbfounded. That didn't go nearly as well as she'd hoped it would. She wasn't even sure what she said wrong. The only thing she was certain of was that she felt like absolute shit after all of the fighting they'd done. Verbal and otherwise.

~~~

Unbeknownst to Jeanne hours had passed. She was busy venting to Rodin and drinking whatever concoctions he poured for her. She was definitely feeling a little more than buzzed by the time she started agreeing with what he was saying.

"Sounds to me like you just need to see her side of things. She already had to save you once, you know." Jeanne groaned and laid her head down on the bar. Rodin was backing Cereza here. He had a point. He was trying to tell her something, wasn't he? Her head was getting fuzzy after all the drinking she'd done.

"I just...I can't help it, you know? She practically throws herself into danger."

"Did she throw herself into danger when you stopped Gomorrah from creamin' her?"

"No...not exactly."

"Did she throw herself into danger when Balder kidnapped her and forced her to help create Jubileus?"

"No...I don't think so."

"Then it seems to me you still see her as the Umbran treasure. You've got some centuries old hangups about protecting that treasure of her's. The sad thing is, she doesn't even have that treasure anymore. Aesir ruined that for everyone now didn't he?"

"I guess...I guess that makes sense. Hey" she picked her head up and squinted at him. "Can you pour me another one?" He nodded.

"You know the deal though, you're going over your limit. I'm going to need to call Bayonetta to come pick you up." Jeanne's eyes widened at this. How long had she been at the bar? How many drinks did she have? She lost count after seven. One thing was certain though: she didn't want to disturb Cereza in the middle of the night because she'd had too much to drink. Again.

"Nevermind, it's fine. I'll just head home now...thanks Rodin."

"Anytime." He continued washing off the glasses behind the bar but raised his brow when Jeanne got up and began stumbling towards the door. Bayonetta would definitely pop a cap in his ass if he let Jeanne walk home alone like this. "Hold on, Jeanne."

~~~

Cereza had spent her time alone staring at the cieling in the dark, wondering if Jeanne was going to be back that night or if she'd turn up in the morning. She had half a mind to walk to the bar and check on her but decided it would be better to give her space so she could think about what they talked about. She supposed she'd half to meet the woman half way because that's how relationships worked. Compromises were important to any relationship. How could she compromise with this, though? When it was a matter of life and death a compromise sounded silly.

Suddenly she heard the front door open and a loud thud. She walked out of their bedroom to see Jeanne had faceplanted into the floor, albeit with grace, and Rodin looking at her with a great amount of disappointment.

"You really shouldn't drink so much if you can't handle your shit" He said. Jeanne's response was muffled and impossible to understand but Cereza waved at Rodin in thanks. He grunted as he closed the door and presumeably walked away. The white haired woman struggled for a bit to stand but she didn't get very far. She looked something like a fish out of water the way she kept sliding back down onto the floor. Only when she felt someone grabbing her arm to help her up did she realize Cereza was in the room.

"Cereza. I-I didn't mean to wake you up" somehow he words were obvious and understandable but terribly slurred.

"I was already awake. How much did you drink tonight?" Jeanne didn't answer her question, instead she found herself hugging the other woman with all the grace of a worm. 

"I'm sorry I have Umbran hangups" she managed to say.

"What? What are you on about?"

"Don't worry about it, okay? Listen if you promise...you need to promise...that you'll be more careful then I promise I won't keep risking my life over the silliest little stupid dumb thing. Okay?"

"You used four adjectives and three of them were synonyms for each other. How wasted are you dear?"

"You need to promise." By now they were in their bedroom and Jeanne was being tucked in.

"Will you even remember any of this tomorrow?" Cereza waited for a response but all she heard was breathing. Jeanne had passed out the moment her head hit the pillow. She sighed and whispered, "Alright. I promise." Whether or not Jeanne would remember anything in the morning was a grand mystery but Cereza hoped they could discuss it all when they woke up. As she got into bed she felt Jeanne's warmth as the white haired woman moved and cuddled up against her. Something told her the greatly anticipated conversation would go well the next day.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I'm open to constructive criticisms and all that good stuff. This one was definitely an interesting write.


End file.
